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Treasury International Capital Data for May

7/17/2012

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​WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for May 2012. The next release, which will report on data for June 2012, is scheduled for August 15, 2012.

The sum total in May of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $101.7 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $60.3 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $41.4 billion.

Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in May – net purchases were $50.1 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $19.9 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $30.2 billion.

At the same time, U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $4.9 billion.

Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of long-term securities were $55.0 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, the overall net foreign acquisition of long-term securities is estimated to have been $39.3 billion in May.

The monthly data on holdings of long-term securities, as well as the monthly table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, reflect foreign holdings of U.S. securities collected primarily on the basis of custodial data. These data help provide a window into foreign ownership of U.S. securities, but they cannot attribute holdings of U.S. securities with complete accuracy. For example, if a U.S. Treasury security purchased by a foreign resident is held in a custodial account in a third country, the true ownership of the security will not be reflected in the data. The custodial data will also not properly attribute U.S. Treasury securities managed by foreign private portfolio managers who invest on behalf of residents of other countries. In addition, foreign countries may hold dollars and other U.S. assets that are not captured in the TIC data. For these reasons, it is difficult to draw precise conclusions from TIC data about changes in the foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets by individual countries.